Free N-400 tool
N-400 Continuous Residence & Physical Presence Calculator: do your trips abroad still leave you eligible?
Your travel history can decide whether you qualify for U.S. citizenship. Add your trips below and see where you stand on the two rules USCIS applies to Form N-400: continuous residence and physical presence.
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The calculator
Add your trips.
No trips yet. Add every trip you took during the statutory period, however short. Short trips do not break continuous residence, but their days still come off your physical presence total.
Add your trips to see your result
Add every trip in the period, or confirm that you had none.
Continuous residence
How long you were gone is the whole question.
USCIS sorts every trip into one of three bands, and each one carries a different burden.
- Under 6 months
No effect
A trip this short leaves your continuous residence alone. Nothing to prove, nothing to explain.
- 6 to 12 months
You have to argue for it
USCIS starts from the assumption that you broke residence. You can answer it with proof that your life stayed here: a job, a lease, tax filings, family.
- 1 year or more
Clock resets
This breaks continuous residence outright and starts the waiting period again from the day you returned.
Physical presence
The second test is just counting.
Physical presence is the other half, and it is pure arithmetic. You need 913 days inside the U.S. on the 5-year track, or 548 on the 3-year marriage track, counted across the statutory period. Every day abroad comes off that total, including the short trips that do nothing to your continuous residence.
For the full picture, including what evidence actually persuades USCIS and how real cases played out, read the guide. Read the full guide
Questions
Common questions.
On the 5-year track you need 913 days inside the U.S. during the statutory period, which is the 5 years before you file. On the 3-year marriage track you need 548 days. That is the physical presence test. Continuous residence is a separate question, and any single trip under 6 months leaves it untouched.
Not on its own. A trip of 6 to 12 months means USCIS starts from the assumption that you broke continuous residence. You can answer that with evidence of your life here: a job, a lease, property, bank accounts, tax filings. A trip over 12 months is different. That one breaks continuous residence automatically.
If you were outside the U.S. for more than a year in one stretch, your continuous residence clock resets. On the 5-year track you wait 4 years and 1 day from the date you came back before you can file again. On the 3-year marriage track the wait is 2 years and 1 day.
Continuous residence is about whether you kept the U.S. as your home. Physical presence is a count: the number of days your feet were actually on U.S. soil during the statutory period. You have to pass both to naturalize.
Immiva's N-400 preparation fee is $199. We review your answers before you submit. Government filing fees are separate.
Prepare your N-400 with Immiva
Start for free. Immiva guides you through the N-400 and shows your report before you pay. The preparation fee is $199. Government filing fees are separate.
This calculator estimates your position under the general USCIS rules (INA § 316(a), 8 CFR 316.5). It is not legal advice, and individual cases vary. For advice on your own case, talk to a qualified immigration attorney.